Useful & Practical Lights: EagleTac P10A2 & T10L

I just received these lights that I purchased from PT Flashlights.
They are both my new favorite outdoor lights.

I really prefer the AA lights and the P10A2 is significantly more useful to me than my past favorite, the Fenix L2D.
The simple UI is SO appealing and these lights are very bright with a useful beam pattern that gives both good throw and spill. Outdoors the low is good and the high is bright.

The T10L is a favorite over the Raidfore Spear and DBS V1. Much more useful a beam pattern with both throw and spill.
Again, the simple UI makes it foolproof with a selection of high and low.

Did I mention that these Eagletac lights are useful and practical?

I concur that the P10A2 has a very nice beam pattern. The T10L is OK, but the P10C2 or T10C2 has a better beam pattern. In theory the T10C2 and the T10L have the same beam pattern, but the T10C2 is driven by 2xCR123 vs the 1x18650 resulting in the higher 2xCR123 voltage to the head and therefore more light. Do not mix the Eagletac heads even though they look the same. There are differences between similar-looking heads, such as losing the lower output, etc. Maybe someone will post the voltage tolerances of the Eagletac heads, but for all practical purposes, leave them matched as they were delivered.

In general reports have been very good for the Eagletac lights. The only qualification is the "bumpers" on the head that serve as protection against a reversed cell insertion. The bumpers fall off. Both bumpers on my T10L head fell off. I suspect the primary cause is that the + contact on the 18650 cell is fairly short. Therefore if a 18650 cell is inserted from the head end, that means that the head is rotating over the anode end of the cell, thus dislodging the bumpers.

Another comment is the use of "3.0v" RCR123 cells in the Eagletac CR123-format lights. A 3.0v RCR123 cell is usually a 3.7v RCR123 cell with some sort of voltage reduction method that reduces the voltage to somewhere in the nominal 3v level. The voltage reduction in a 3.0v RCR123 cell was designed for a common current draw of available CR123 lights at the time. The problem is that the Eagletac CR123-format lights draw significantly more current than, say, a Fenix P3D-Q5. The voltage reduction circuit of a 3.0v RCR123 cell has always overheated in my several copies of an Eagletac CR123-format light. Use only the common 3.7v RCR123 cell (eg: AW-brand black-colored RCR123) in Eagletac lights. I know that the Powerizer brand of 3.7v RCR123 cell is OK as well.

P10A2

I want that lite!! It has everything I want.

etc said:

P10A2

I want that lite!! It has everything I want.

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My T10C2 is the best outdoor light I own now, and my favorite. A P10A2 is next on my list; I'd love to have this light with its very usable beam pattern and ability to take just about any kind of easily available AA cells in a pinch.

lightfire said:

I really prefer the AA lights and the P10A2 is significantly more useful to me than my past favorite, the Fenix L2D.

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How is the beam more useful? Does it have more spill AND more throw then the L2D? Is 40 more lumens enough to do both. Just curious as I believe I want this light.

The difference between the P10A2 and the L2D-Q5 is more a case of what do you need? short distances or long distances? illumination of objects outside of the direct spot? fuzzy broad spot or more sharply defined spot? flood or throw?

I just conducted an impromptu comparison between the P10A2 and the L2D-Q5 in my back yard. The P10A2 has a brighter and more defined spot, but does leave sufficient fuzziness around the edge of the spot for illumination of objects that are not directly in the spot. The L2D-Q5 has a broader and more diffuse spot that is more useful at shorter distances for larger areas of central interest. At longer distances, the beam of a P10A2 obviously illuminates a gazebo about 40 meters away better than the L2D-Q5, both on max output. The L2D-Q5 beam pattern illuminates the whole gazebo whereas the P10A2 illuminates the screened area & inside of the gazebo. The spill brightness between the two lights is rather the same. Arguably in direct comparison the P10A2 has a slighter brighter spill, but in use one would likely not notice a difference.

My interests in illumination in dark areas tends to focus on large inside area illumination to about 20 meters (open house basement or conference hall or industrial high ceilings) or outdoors distances out to about 50 meters to illuminate whatever tripped my IR security lights. I need a light that provides a larger spot and spill that will illuminate "side" objects. All "throw" with minimal spill light is useless. Even with a 2 million candlepower lead-acid spotlight with a sharply defined spot, I had trouble finding the other racoons or deer looking down the shaft of light.

Given those conditions, I do not like the updated reflector of the LD10 as compared with the L1D-Q5 and L2D-Q5. example: the L2D-Q5 has a nice broad spot that does have some "throw", but gives a reasonable compromise at shorter indoor distances. The LD10 more sharply defines the spot and therefore became less usefull for me, so I gave my LD10 copy away. I also sold the TK20 - much too narrow of a beam for my uses even though the better color rendition was nice.

Nevertheless, with the caveat of what I need a flashlight for indoors or outdoors, the P10A2 has the best balance of spot vs spill I have yet observed in 2xAA lights.

I suppose I should observe that the "best" beam pattern for my indoor/outoor uses would be a bright smallish spot that can reach out to 50 some yards, accompanied by a smooth transition to the spill area. The Nitecore D10 GDP has such a beam pattern, but the limited brightness is useful only for room and house/home hallway distances. Before the Nitecore D20 left to it's new owners, the D20 "spot" was actually a 2-stage spot with a small sharp bright area surrounded by a larger slightly dimmer area still w/in the so-called "spot", then came the spill illumination. A Garrity lead-acid spotlight also had such a beam with a smooth reflector that had a ring of dimpling about half-way up the reflector. The point of the comment is that the manufacturers seem to recognize the choices between small spot and lots of throw vs larger spot and less throw and yet some amount of spill light is desirable. The consumer or flashaholic or LEO votes with his Euro or $$.

back to the thread title. I have both the P10A2 and the T10L. I purchased the T10L to learn about the plus/minus of an 18650 light. I also have the P10C2 with 2xRCR123 cells. If I could keep only one light, it would be the P10A2 because of battery flexibility and availability.

Thanks moldyoldy, appreciate the thorough response. I was reading posts on the p10a2, it seems to have more throw, and possibly better spill then the L2D. Since I prefer to stick with AA lights, I'm looking to see if the better throw of the p102A is worth getting, given I have the L2D. The Eagletac lights seem to be of good quality, and I'm trying to justify the purchase. I would like to try something a little different than a Fenix, while also seeing enough of an improvement in throw, while not sacraficing in the spill the light provides.

tslrc said:

Thanks moldyoldy, appreciate the thorough response. I was reading posts on the p10a2, it seems to have more throw, and possibly better spill then the L2D. Since I prefer to stick with AA lights, I'm looking to see if the better throw of the p102A is worth getting, given I have the L2D. The Eagletac lights seem to be of good quality, and I'm trying to justify the purchase. I would like to try something a little different than a Fenix, while also seeing enough of an improvement in throw, while not sacraficing in the spill the light provides.

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I will continue to use my L2d mostly for it's low output indoors and utilize the P10A2 as a choice for outdoors. It appears to me to have more spill outdoors but I am not a technical reviewer; just know I really like the light.
But to justify the purchase... I just said I wanted it. Need to buy it when I already had L2D? Nah.

lightfire said:

But to justify the purchase... I just said I wanted it. Need to buy it when I already had L2D? Nah.

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Oh, ok.......

Thanks!

Could you post beamshots of the three in high and low modes, side by side?

moldyoldy said:

back to the thread title. I have both the P10A2 and the T10L. I purchased the T10L to learn about the plus/minus of an 18650 light. I also have the P10C2 with 2xRCR123 cells. If I could keep only one light, it would be the P10A2 because of battery flexibility and availability.

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